India’s Supreme Court has ruled against environmental groups and approved the commissioning of the Kundankulam Nuclear Power plant built by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corp with the help of the Russians.

Russia will spend $21 billion through to 2015 for development of its nuclear power industry. The next generation nuclear power plants will be used to generate electricity and to desalinate water. They will also have updated safety features including double reactor containment, passive heat removal systems, and specialized cooling units.

South Africa says it intends to build new nuclear plants and increase the amount of electricity generated by nuclear power to 9.6 GW by 2030.

For the second year in a row, Japan’s 10 electric utilities have suffered a combined $15 billion loss in revenue due to the shutdown of Japan’s nuclear reactors and the urgent need to replace nuclear electricity with power generated from expensive imported natural gas.

pursue construction of a new nuclear power plants (NPPs) and increase the amount of nuclear-generated electricity in the country to 9.6 GW by 2030 – See more at: http://www.energytribune.com/76656/south-africa-to-construct-new-nuclear-power-plants#sthash.mffqOoWQ.VSYYQqVz.dpuf

South African government has signalled intent to pursue construction of a new nuclear power plants (NPPs) and increase the amount of nuclear-generated electricity in the country to 9.6 GW by 2030, a cabinet Minister said on Wednesday.

Public Enterprise Minister, Malusi Gigaba

– See more at: http://www.energytribune.com/76656/south-africa-to-construct-new-nuclear-power-plants#sthash.mffqOoWQ.VSYYQqVz.dpuf

South African government has signalled intent to pursue construction of a new nuclear power plants (NPPs) and increase the amount of nuclear-generated electricity in the country to 9.6 GW by 2030, a cabinet Minister said on Wednesday.

Public Enterprise Minister, Malusi Gigaba

– See more at: http://www.energytribune.com/76656/south-africa-to-construct-new-nuclear-power-plants#sthash.mffqOoWQ.VSYYQqVz.dpuf

Scotland has given approval for the construction of an offshore, 7-megawatt, 640 foot tall, prototype wind turbine. The installation will be built by South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries. Samsung officials said the tower will be used to test new designs of wind turbines with the aim of increasing their efficiency.

Morocco has officially launched the construction of a 160-megawatt solar power plant near the desert city of Ouarzazate, the first in a series of vast solar projects planned in the country. The thermo-solar plant will cost 7 billion dirhams (630 million euros) and is expected to be complete in 2015. It is the first of a two-phase project, due for completion in 2020, that is expected to cover 3,000 hectares and have a generation capacity of 500 megawatts, enough to met the electricity needs of Ouarzazate’s 1.5 million residents.

Renewable energy accounts for 5.25% of Chile’s electricity supply. Currently there are 68.3 MW worth of solar projects are currently under construction in the South American country.

Chinese solar panel manufacturers could face import tariffs of up to 68% in the European Union, according to reports. The tariffs will range from 37% to 67.9% and is expected to come into effect by next month, with larger manufacturers facing duties on the higher end. Some EU solar panel manufacturers filed a complaint against Chinese firms about below cost imports from China last year. A lot of EU manufacturers are believed to have shut production or gone out of business as a result of the Chinese pricing.

The World Trade Organization’s appeal body has upheld complaints from the EU and Japan that The Canadian province of Ontario’s program to promote renewable energy use violates international trade rules. The appeal process upheld an earlier ruling that the program to encourage the development of wind and solar power discriminates against foreign firms because Ontario’s Green Energy Act mandates that a certain percentage of solar and wind components be manufactured within the province.

The US Department of Energy plans to award up to $20 million for research on methane hydrate deposits. The projects will focus on the economic viability of extracting energy from these deposits below the ocean floor.

The International Energy Agency says that natural gas consumption in Europe is not likely to increase much in the near future.

Russian energy company Gazprom has been given approval by the government to develop the estimated 63.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the country’s Arctic region.

– See more at: http://www.energytribune.com/76508/gazprom-given-green-light-for-arctic-work#sthash.6xG7mrwW.1VpdeKkq.dpufLebanon says that preliminary surveys show that it has offshore reserves of 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. 46 firms have qualified to bid on the first round of licenses to explore the offshore gas fields. If all goes well, the exploration should be finished by 2017 with production coming thereafter.

Exxon and Norway’s Statoil announced they are developing a new field in the Gulf of Mexico which could hold six billion barrels of oil. The oil bearing rock is located more than five miles below the ocean’s surface and would be one of the first ultra-deep fields. Initial production at the modest rate of 34,000 b/d is expected in 2016.

The Canadian province of Alberta announced that production from its oil sands increased by 10% to 1.9 million barrels per day last year and will double to 3.8 million by 2022. Investment in the oil sands has been slowing lately due to the availability of cheaper tight oil from the US states of North Dakota and Montana.

Oil reserves in the northern US plains are nearly double previous estimates, the US Geological Survey said. For natural gas, the reserve estimate is almost triple what was reported five years ago. The oil is now estimated at 7.8 billion barrels and the natural gas at almost 7 trillion cubic feet. The US is a world leader in natural gas reserves but imports most of its oil from Canada.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil production capacity from the current 12.5 million barrels a day to 15 million barrels a day by 2020. The desert kingdom has a fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves and is the largest oil producer, and exporter of petroleum liquids, in the world. By increasing total production to 15 million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia will be able to increase exports to 10 million barrels a day. In an attempt to reduce domestic consumption of oil, Saudi Arabia has been motivated to invest in renewable energies, pledging nearly $110 billion in order to install 41 GW of solar energy capacity by 2032.

China is considering taxing resource consumption including that of coal as a means of reducing consumption. In November Beijing announced a tax on gas and oil based on the value rather than the volume of production. The tax did not apply to coal however. In March, the government announced that it would attempt to cap coal production at 4 billion tons per year by 2015.

The African country of Tanzania announced it has over 1 billion tonnes of coal reserves.

Tanzania has over 1 billion tonne of coal reserves

Households in the UK have seen their annual energy increase by 29% or over £300 over the past three years. Figures released by the energy watchdog Ofgem found a typical yearly fuel bill for heat and electricity now stands at £1,420.

The Panamanian government has ordered schools to close and government offices to reduce their opening hours as the country suffers from a power shortage caused by drought for a third of the country. In addition businesses will be forced to reduce hours of operation and turn off their air conditioning between 11 am and 3 pm. Panama derives more than half of its energy from hydroelectric power and a lack of rain has hit the supply hard. Hydroelectric power accounted for almost 60% of Panama’s electricity generation in 2010.